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Audience Picks: 100 Best Beach Books Ever

July 29, 200912:01 AM ET

People talk a lot about the wisdom of crowds, but the truth is that large packs of people are better at judging some things than others.

Almost 16,000 of you cast some 136,000 votes in our Best Beach Books Ever poll. Whether such a vote can determine literary quality, who can say? But there's one thing a multitude of book-loving NPR types can most definitely do, and that's pick a list of books that will appeal to... book-loving NPR types.

Which means, if you're reading this, you stand an excellent chance of finding the book that will make your summer vacation among the 100 audience favorites below. Happy travels!

1. The Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling2. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee3. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini4. Bridget Jones's Diary, by Helen Fielding5. Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen6. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, by Rebecca Wells7. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald8. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams9. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, by Fannie Flagg10. The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver

11. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger12. Life of Pi, by Yann Martel13. The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan 14. The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien15. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger 16. Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell17. Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett18. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien19. Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides20. Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen

21. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain22. The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver23. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith24. The World According to Garp, by John Irving25. Catch-22, by Joseph Heller26. The Prince of Tides, by Pat Conroy27. Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel28. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman29. The Accidental Tourist, by Anne Tyler 30. Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer

31. A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole 32. East of Eden, by John Steinbeck 33. The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant34. Beach Music, by Pat Conroy35. One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez36. Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier37. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card38. Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry39. The Thorn Birds, by Colleen McCullough40. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon

41. Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett42. Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy 43. Interview with the Vampire, by Anne Rice44. Cold Mountain, by Charles Frazier45. Empire Falls, by Richard Russo46. Under the Tuscan Sun, by Frances Mayes47. The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas48. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, by Tom Robbins 49. I Know This Much Is True, by Wally Lamb50. Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie

51. Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott52. The Stand, by Stephen King53. She's Come Undone, by Wally Lamb54. Dune, by Frank Herbert55. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows56. Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez57. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll58. Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov59. The Godfather, by Mario Puzo60. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith

61. Animal Dreams, by Barbara Kingsolver62. Jaws, by Peter Benchley63. Good in Bed, by Jennifer Weiner64. Angle of Repose, by Wallace Stegner65. Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson66. The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway67. The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand68. Breakfast of Champions, by Kurt Vonnegut69. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut70. The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler

71. The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway72. The Hunt for Red October, by Tom Clancy73. Cold Sassy Tree, by Olive Ann Burns74. The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding 74. Bonfire of the Vanities, by Tom Wolfe [tie]76. Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte77. Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon78. The Shell Seekers, by Rosamunde Pilcher79. Prodigal Summer, by Barbara Kingsolver80. Eye of the Needle, by Ken Follett

81. Cannery Row, by John Steinbeck 81. The Pilot's Wife, by Anita Shreve [tie]83. All the Pretty Horses, by Cormac McCarthy 84. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson85. The Little Prince, by Antoine De Saint-Exupery86. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy87. One for the Money, by Janet Evanovich88. Shogun, by James Clavell89. Dracula, by Bram Stoker 90. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Milan Kundera